AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)08/01 Report--

On August 1st, Mercedes-Benz announced that it had renewed its contract with CEO Ola K ä llenius for five years ahead of schedule. It is understood that Kang Linsong's current contract expires in May 2024, and the new contract renewal will enable him to lead the German carmaker at least until May 21, 2029.

According to the data, Kang Linsong entered Daimler as an intern in 1993 and began his automotive career. He has served as the control manager of Mercedes-Benz USA, the senior purchasing manager of Mercedes-Benz engine emission management, and the purchasing director of Mercedes-Benz automobile powertrain. In 2003, Kang Linsong briefly left Daimler to join McLaren as CEO. In 2005, Conlinson returned to Daimler, briefly responsible for plant operations in Alabama, USA, and then transferred back to Germany to head Mercedes-Benz's AMG high-performance division in 2010. In 2017, Kang Linsong became Daimler's global head of research and development and became a member of the Mercedes-Benz Automobile Development Management Committee. In 2019, Kang Linsong succeeded Zetsche as chairman of the board of Mercedes-Benz.

During his tenure, Kang Linsong promoted the electrified transformation of Mercedes-Benz, repeatedly saying that it would make Mercedes-Benz a pure electric car company, while boosting Mercedes-Benz's brand image and profit margins to help Mercedes-Benz raise more funds to achieve the electrified transformation.

In 2021, Mercedes-Benz proposed a "all-electric" strategy, with a nine-year investment of more than 40 billion euros, with the goal of accounting for 50% of sales of pure electric and plug-in hybrid models by 2025, and each new model will launch a pure electric version. In the following two years, Mercedes-Benz launched a number of new EQ series cars. In order to adapt to the rapid iteration of pure electric vehicles, traditional fuel vehicles began to be dominated by plug-in hybrid models.

According to official figures, Mercedes-Benz sold 1.0192 million vehicles worldwide in the first half, up 5 per cent from a year earlier, of which 102600 pure electric vehicles (BEV) were sold, up 121 per cent from a year earlier, accounting for 10.07 per cent of total sales.

According to foreign media reports, Ola K ä llenius, chairman of the board of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, said in an interview with German media that Mercedes-Benz will make China, the world's largest car market, the center of the next-generation electric vehicle program starting in 2025.

As Mercedes-Benz's first pure streetcar, EQC sales are very poor. Take the Chinese market as an example, it sold a total of 156vehicles in the first half of the year, which is the worst domestic model of Mercedes-Benz, while the sales of EQA and EQB are also very mediocre, with sales of 1767 and 2735 in the first half of the year. EQA, EQB and EQC are essentially "oil-to-electricity" models, even in the case of substantial concessions in the end market, they have not been recognized by Chinese consumers.

Beijing Mercedes-Benz EQE officially went public in August 2022, with a price range of 52.8-585000 yuan. Beijing Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV was launched in May 2023 and is regarded as an important model in the territory of Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles. EQE SUV positioning pure electricity medium and large luxury SUV, for the first time, the whole system is equipped with standard dual motors and intelligent just-in-time four-wheel drive system 4MATIC, with a price range of 48.6 ~ 630600 yuan. Figures show that EQE sold 3355 vehicles in the first half of the year, while EQE SUV sold 1533 in June.

On July 5th, the new Mercedes-Benz CLE coupe was officially launched. the new car is based on the current C-Class, positioning a two-door four-seater coupe, and can be seen as the successor to the C-Class Coupe and E-Class Coupe, offering hard-top and soft-top convertible body designs. It is understood that Mercedes-Benz in the European and American market sales of 33 models, may only 14 models will be retained, including the Coupe series, station wagons and other models may be eliminated. Earlier, Mercedes-Benz had eliminated the A-class sedan in the US market, which was replaced by the GLA SUV.

At the shareholders' meeting, Kang Linsong announced that the company's electric vehicle development plan will be delayed to some extent: the goal of achieving 50% of electric vehicle sales by 2025 will be achieved by 2026. It is not clear whether this goal will continue to be postponed in the future.

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